This is page numbers 5257 – 5290 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was ombudsman.

Topics

David Ramsay

David Ramsay Kam Lake

Thank you. Again, I appreciate the Member’s enthusiasm and his ideas. Like I mentioned earlier, I will go back to the department and to Northwest Territories Tourism and discuss that option of airing those ads and how that might all work, and I’ll get some information back to the Member. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Question 540-17(5): Schoolyard Safety
Oral Questions

November 5th, 2014

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The question I want to bring up today is about schoolyard safety.

One of the schools in my riding, which is Mildred Hall School, has a fire hydrant right in the middle of the playground. The children can’t play soccer or play baseball without safety concerns.

From my research, no school in the Northwest Territories, or even Alberta, has this type of safety problem. Actually, it’s beyond ridiculous that the children have to worry about this. In a situation where we have declining physical activity with children, we must find ways to encourage, not

discourage, children from playing and being part of activity.

So my question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is simply this: Would he be willing to agree today to look at trying to find a financial solution to this particular problem, because it isn’t a heavy capital issue but it is one that should be paramount always before our mind: the safety of the children and making sure that they’re active in their own ways.

So will the Minister work with the school board to find a financial solution to this problem because they don’t have the money? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This is an issue that was just brought to my attention just now. So I will commit to working with the school board to find a solution. Mahsi.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you. I appreciate that answer. I’m not sure I want to screw it up by asking another one and getting him to retract it. But does the Minister see a possibility of working on the solution within the next few weeks so we can build it into the upcoming budget?

Recently the Department of Education has taken back about $400,000 from this school board. I know the Department of Education – we don’t need the exact dollar – turns back money every single year to the Department of Finance, and I know they’re always happy to get that money back.

So what I’m trying to get at is: Does the Minister see if he can get this plan in action immediately, because it’s robbing the kids and we want to make sure we can get it in the window of this upcoming season of construction.

Jackson Lafferty

Jackson Lafferty Monfwi

Mahsi. Those are the discussions that we need to have. I don’t have any information in front of me pertaining to this. My department needs to sit down with the school board and find out the details of the issues that may be before us. It’s not only our department but Public Works and Services that we have to work with when it comes to infrastructure. So that discussion needs to happen with the school board. Mahsi.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Lands. I’d like to follow up on his statement about establishment of the liabilities and financial assurances division.

Some questions have been asked already by other Members about security for development in the NWT. I’d like to ask the Minister first, in general, does the department have an approach, do they have a policy in regard to the value of security that is required for development? Is the security required equal to the value of the remediation or is it a percentage of the value of remediation? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister of Lands, Mr. McLeod.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding is that the security amounts are set by the board and that it would normally consist of whatever it may cost to remediate the site. I’d have to confirm that, but I know the amounts are set by the boards. Thank you.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister’s statement stated: “Security provides additional protection to ensure that there are funds to address environmental liabilities if proponents fail to take remedial action.” That’s definitely a statement that I can agree with and I’m very glad that that’s in there. I do have a bit of a difficulty in that if the amount is set by the board and yet the government is supposed to do the monitoring and enforcement, if the number is not enough for remediation, there’s a bit of a gap in there.

I’d like to ask the Minister how the assessments are made. He says that they’re made by the board, but are they made in house? Does the department assist the board when they are making those assessments for security?

Earlier in response to questions from Mr. Bromley, I believe, the Minister mentioned that they were in negotiations with a particular development to establish a security. So I’d like to know how these assessments are made and my point is we need to have them as accurate as possible. Thank you.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you. I’ll have to admit that I’m not quite sure how the assessments are made. All I know is they are made by the board. I’m sure there’s a lot of work that goes into them, once they make it and we negotiate with the proponents as to the instrument that they will pay and then we hold that security. Thank you

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister also mentioned in his statement that we are working on short- and long-term policy development concerning the government’s management of securities. I would hope that the manner in which assessments are done would be part of that consideration. Certainly the other day there was quite a consideration of the difference, or the statement that we are using security bonds as opposed to irrevocable letter of credit.

I’d like to ask the Minister, and he may not be able to give me this answer today, but I would like to know from the Minister what the difference is between a security bond and an irrevocable letter of credit and why is it that we have decided a security bond is acceptable as security.

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A surety bond is what we have accepted in this particular case. It is a bond that is covered by three major insurance companies, and the proponent would pay a premium on that insurance. It’s in effect until we release our interest in it. It’s a very powerful instrument to use. It’s one that’s used widely across the world, my understanding, and it’s one that’s acceptable under the Waters Act, and it does carry a lot of weight. It’s covered by multinational insurance companies, and it is one that we’re using in this case. What that does is it also frees up some capital that the developers can put back into their project, which could add as long as 10 years on to the life of some projects and the jobs that would continue to provide. It is a very strong bond and it is acceptable in development.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Wendy Bisaro

Wendy Bisaro Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. Thank you for correcting me. Yes, I meant surety bond, so thank you for understanding what I meant.

I guess my concern is whether or not the department has looked at situations where a surety bond has had to be used. I appreciate that the reasoning that it frees the company up for capital as opposed to having a letter of credit, which is cash.

Can the Minister, if he has not or the department has not, look into previous situations or situations that exist anywhere in the world where a surety bond has had to be called on and how effective it was in providing the funds necessary for remediation of a site?

Robert C. McLeod

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

We do have a list of instances where it’s been used in the past. I think as we go forward with this, what I need to do is, I need to sit down with the committee that oversees Lands. I need to give them a briefing so we all have a better understanding of the differences between a surety bond and a line of credit. I will commit to doing that at our earliest convenience. We do have examples of where it has been used in the past.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to return to one of my favourite subjects, and that’s direct appointments. As we’ve all heard at length repeatedly over the years, my concern that they’re

not publicly accounted for and whatnot. Rather than spending a lot of time, let’s go straight to the Minister of Human Resources and get right to the bottom.

What type of public reporting does the Minister see is available for the public to know how many direct appointments we are doing, how often do we make them, and what departments receive them? Let’s just start off with some simple questions like that.

The Speaker

The Speaker Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Beaulieu.

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have that information. We do advise committee on the amount of appointments that we’ve done over each government. I believe that the last time the committee asked, we had provided them with information on the amount of direct appointments that we had done at the Cabinet level.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

If it’s provided to committee, of course, as we all know through the various channels, levels and scrutiny we receive, of course, every piece of that information is confidential. What public reporting can be done on this particular subject?

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Direct appointment is a unique tool that this government uses to fill positions, and if the committee feels that it would be important for this to be reported in a manner to the general public and if committee has ideas on how we would be able to report that to the government, then we would be open to listen to that.

Robert Hawkins

Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Is the Minister saying that if he had a sharply worded letter from committee that supported this initiative, the government would jump on it?